Saturday, November 6, 2010

Just in time for the holidays..... Nellie Fuqua's Famous Desserts

Nellie with her plaque from the Hospital Authority,
recognizing her 26 years of service, and the mounted
photo of the 1979 Bird Hunt. Nellie led the staff
who created the meals for the annual hunt,
sponsored by Dr. W. P. McNair.
September 17, 1980

When the Treutlen County Hospital opened in Soperton, Georgia, February 1954, there was no employee greater than Nellie Fuqua. Her friends call her the hospital cook, but she was dietitian, too.

When the hospital closed in 1975, Nellie continued with the Treutlen County Nursing Home, which in 2010 includes the Living Center in the former hospital building.

Until the mid-1950s, when they moved to Sylvania, Nellie was the cook and adopted family member of the Estroff Family - Bill and Fayge, Norman, Glenn, Sarabel, and Abram.

Nellie was the leading chef for Dr. W. P. McNair's annual Bird Hunts and the Bird Suppers, which brought hundreds of Treutlen Citizens to the TES Cafeteria - a leading social event of the year.

PLEASE EMAIL THIS POST TO YOUR FRIENDS

Share it with them in time for them to include Nellie's two most famous desserts in their holiday cooking, and always use Nellie's name in her honor.

Nellie's two most famous dessert recipes were recently discovered on an old newspaper clipping from approximately 1974, when she was celebrating 20 years of service with the hospital. See more about it near the end of this blog post.

NELLIE FUQUA'S RICH RIBBON PIE

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup sifted all purpose flour

2 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp. salt

1 baked pie shell (9 inch)

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup whipping cream (whipped)

1 1/4 cups chocolate grated

1 1/2 cups of coffee cream

3 eggs separated

Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup of the milk, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Gradually add remaining milk and cream, stirring until smooth. Stir constantly over medium heat until thickened (about 5 minutes). Beat egg yolks slightly. Add a little of the hot mixture to the yolks, then blend carefully with custard in saucepan. Cook stirring constantly until mixture bubbles. Blend in softened gelatin and stir until dissolved. Remove for heat and add vanilla. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and fold into cooked custard. Pour 1/2 of the custard into the cooled baked pie shell and cool. Blend melted chocolate into remaining custard. Cool and spoon carefully over the filling in pie shell. Spread with sweetened whipped cream and sprinkle with grated chocolate slivers. Chill.

Nellie Fuqua served the Treutlen County Hospital Authority from February 1954 to June 1985, thirty-one consecutive years!

Since Nellie's death many people have been looking for her recipes. The recipes of her two most famous desserts were recently discovered by Mary Simons Wood, a native of Soperton, who has spent her adult life with her husband Ralph in Waynesboro, Georgia. Two of the most diligent seekers of the ribbon pie recipe are Donna Shurling and Jackie Ellington. Donna volunteered to proof read the retyped copy of the article and recipes:

Twenty Years of Good Food ........Honor for Nellie Fuqua

The Treutlen County Hospital honored their oldest employee, Nellie Fuqua, who has been with the hospital for the past twenty years, by presenting her with a service pin denoting her service.

Nellie has been chief cook and head of the Dietary Department and is known far and wide for her good cooking. She always strives to please the patient with the prescribed diet that the doctor has ordered, and hopes that the diet will allow one of her delicious biscuits or a piece of cake or homemade pie.

She not only has been a faithful employee but holds many offices in other activities she enjoys. She is a member of the First Baptist Church, Pastor, W. W. Jones, and is the Clerk of the Church, Secretary of the WS.M.B.S., Secretary of the Pastor's Aid Society, President of the Senior Choir, and a member of the Eastern Star. Nellie is the wife of the late David Fuqua.

Many people call on her to make a special cake for parties or ask for one of her favorite recipes and she has shared two of these recipes with us for the public to enjoy.

FUDGE CAKE

2 squares chocolate

1 stick of butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup nuts

1 tsp. vanilla

Marshmallows

Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler. Beat eggs until fluffy and gradually add sugar, beating until light. Sift flour over nuts, add first mixture to the second then add floured nuts and vanilla. Bake at 350 degrees. As soon as this is done, sprinkle small marshmallows over the top and ice while still warm.

ICING FOR FUDGE CAKE

2 squares chocolate

1 cup sugar

1 T Karo syrup

One-third cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

Cook to soft boiled stage, beat until creamy and pour over the marshmallows.

RICH RIBBON PIE

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup sifted all purpose flour

2 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp. salt

1 baked pie shell (9 inch)

2 squares of unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup whipping cream (whipped)

1 1/4 cups chocolate grated

1 1/2 cups of coffee cream

3 eggs separated

Soften gelatin in 1/4 cup of the milk, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy saucepan. Gradually add remaining milk and cream, stirring until smooth. Stir constantly over medium heat until thickened (about 5 minutes). Beat egg yolks slightly. Add a little of the hot mixture to the yolks, then blend carefully with custard in saucepan. Cook stirring constantly until mixture bubbles. Blend in softened gelatin and stir until dissolved. Remove for heat and add vanilla. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and fold into cooked custard. Pour 1/2 of the custard into the cooled baked pie shell and cool. Blend melted chocolate into remaining custard. Cool and spoon carefully over the filling in pie shell. Spread with sweetened whipped cream and sprinkle with grated chocolate slivers. Chill.

The last published tribute to Nellie Fuqua was written by award-winning Soperton columnist and novelist Cynthia R. Reese. It appeared in the May 1998 "Treutlen County Observer."

First page of article about Nellie, "'Treutlen County Observer" May 1998.

Second (last) page of article about Nellie, "'Treutlen County Observer" May 1998. Coincidentally, the advertisement at the left shows the Estroff House, mentioned in the article. It has been the home of Sammons Funeral Home since the Estroff family moved in the mid-1950s.